Smart bet: Duncan Trussell

Comedian Duncan Trussell might be based 3,000 miles from Western North Carolina, but he’s got serious ties to the region. Trussell grew up in Hendersonville and graduated from Warren Wilson College before relocating to L.A. There, he landed a job as a runner for The Comedy Store’s club owner Mitzi Shore. “While you were hanging out with her, she was teaching you how to be a comedian, but you would just think you were being tortured by the cruelest person on earth,” he told Xpress (full interview at mountainx.com). These days, he tours the country doing standup at the likes of Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and the Moontower Comedy Festival in Austin. He also has his own podcast, The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, which he says “really is a new form of comedic expression.” Trussell performs at The Millroom on Friday, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m. $12/$15. ashevillemillroom.com. Photo courtesy of Trussell

About Alli Marshall

Alli Marshall is the arts section editor at Mountain Xpress. She's lived in Asheville for more than 20 years and loves live music, visual art, fiction and friendly dogs. Alli is the winner of the 2016 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the author of the novel "How to Talk to Rockstars," published by Logosophia Books. Follow me @alli_marshall